The present invention relates to tools for the installation or removal of fuses from biased fuse clips which are located in fuse holder pans. Such tools are often referred to as fuse pullers.
The installation or removal of a cylindrical fuse, such as a barrel fuse, from biased fuse clips, which are also known as contact sets, located within a fuse holder pan requires overcoming the contact bias force generated by the contact sets during fuse positioning. Tight clearances around the fuse well may prevent an electrician from establishing a good grasp of the fuse barrel necessary to counteract the fuse clip bias force.
Over the years, devices have been created to aid electricians with fuse removal and some of the devices also aid an electrician with installation of fuses. Tools of the type which aid electricians with fuse installation and removal include clip-on type pullers that are used to grasp the fuse barrel between the fuse clips, or pliers having c-shaped jaws which grasp the fuse barrel. Another type of installation aid has been a shrouded injector/ejector assembly, which holds the fuse and which inserts or ejects as a spring-loaded cartridge. Other types of tools can be used to remove fuses, but cannot be used to install fuses. Such types of fuse pullers include ejector levers, which include a pivoting lever that contacts the fuse barrel or loop-type fuse pullers which encircle the fuse barrel or contact and ride in a track built within the fuse well or fuse contact.
The prior known fuse pulling and/or installation tools have disadvantages. Clip-on and plier-type fuse pullers are not an integral part of the fuse assembly and may be misplaced, or the electrician may not have the tool handy when needed to replace or install a fuse. The loop- and lever-type tools are not helpful for fuse installation, thus the electrician must maneuver and urge the fuse assembly into the biased fuse clips without a grasping tool, often in tight, cramped quarters. The loop-type and levertype pullers also tend to require more clearance space for the extra components than may otherwise be available in an installation environment. Loop-type and lever-type fuse pullers as well as the shrouded injector/ejector-type assemblies cannot be retrofitted into existing fuse holder wells which were not originally designed to accept such tools without reconstructing the fuse holder.
It is an object of the present invention to create a fuse insertion and removal tool which can be utilized in existing fuse holder wells without retrofit conversion.
It is another object of the present invention to create a fuse insertion and removal tool which mounts securely within existing fuse holder wells with no guides, detents, or special fasteners.
It is an additional object of the present invention to create a fuse insertion or removal tool which provides an insulating cover over the fuse.
It is also an object of the present invention to create an inexpensive one-piece design fuse insertion or removal tool that can be left within a fuse well.
It is another object of the present invention to create a fuse insertion or removal system having a fuse holder well which retains the fuse insertion or removal tool within the fuse well.